Slater's 50/50 in Huntington Beach

Happy holidays everyone! Now that finals are done and I've moved out of my neat little apartment in UCSC, I'm getting close to the final few days before I get on the plane to Hong Kong. I'm getting pretty antsy! I definitely still have things to do before I head out (i.e. figure out what I'm bringing, buy travel adapters, I don't know, do things that travelers do before they travel, etc.)  My Canon Rebel T3i came in the mail and I've been practicing taking pictures nonstop so I'll be a total expert (not likely) before I go. I thought it might be fun to try a little food blogging while I'm still in the states so that you'll have something fairly American to compare to my Hong Kong eating adventures. So here you go!

My boyfriend Tim moved me out of my apartment and drove me back to my sunny hometown of Huntington Beach, CA this weekend so the folks and I thought it might be fun to take him to Slater's 50/50. It's definitely my favorite burger place, not only for the delectable 50% bacon 50% beef burgers that you can design (and name) yourself but also for the mouthwatering appetizers!

Here's Tim having a grand time in front of the 50/50 sign. And we haven't even gotten inside yet!

 We ordered the three appetizer combo with onion rings, sweet potato fries and fried dill pickle chips! They each come with their own sauce: a pumpkin sauce, barbecue sauce, and mustard sauce. Honestly I could eat those pickle chips for days, they're amazing!

Here's the burger I created- the Samuel L. Jackson. It has guacamole, 1000 island dressing, vampire dip (a garlic cheese spread), grilled onion, tomatoes, pickles on a beef patty. It looks kind of gnarly but I was pretty pleased with it.

If you're ever in the area, check it out!

So how did I do? I'm hoping I can document at least a couple of interesting food places (and recipes, since I'll be cooking for myself) each week throughout my trip in the same way. Bon appetit!

Nee Ho Ma?

I've been addicted to Omniglot.com's useful Cantonese phrases page lately! Even though I don't speak Cantonese yet I figured it would be helpful to know a few key things before going over to Hong Kong. I know there are a ton of pages like this on the web but I really like that if you click the words in Chinese they have an audio pronunciation of the words for you to listen to. I've been trying to practice a lot, especially with phrases like "where's the toilet?" and "excuse me." 

One of my bosses actually lived in Hong Kong and she said she definitely understands what I'm saying, which is a huge relief because I'm so afraid of butchering everything when I get over there! I'm definitely going to buy a little pocket phrase book so I'm not completely stranded but I hope by the time I return I'll have a formidable arsenal of Cantonese words in my brain! Maybe I won't even need the pocket dictionary! Who knows!?

47 Days

47 days.

47 days until I'll be on a 19 hour flight to a place that is 7,254 miles away from my hometown while I will live for approximately 152 days.

Crazy, huh?

I guess it hasn't really hit me until just now, but I am literally going to pack up my life into one rather small suitcase and move to a place where I am completely and totally an outsider. I don't know the customs or the language or even what shoes to wear. What am I doing?! My life is about to radically change and I'm not prepared in any way, shape or form.

My good friend Julia told me recently that nothing is worth doing until it scares you shitless. To which I replied, "What about taking naps?" But I guess naps are beside the point. 

The point is that I'm on the precipice of a whole different lifestyle, and it's the scariest thing I've ever done. Does that mean that it's also the most worthwhile? I'm not sure, but I guess we'll see how it goes. If nothing else, I hope to get some cool t-shirts and eat a lot. I have pretty lofty goals.


Here is a brief list of things that will keep me busy until I leave:

1. Homework
I still have two weeks of this quarter at UCSC, in which I have 2 finals, 1 film, 1 paper, and 1 medieval theatre production history to work on. 

2. My New Fancy Camera
I recently ordered a Canon Rebel T3i DSLR camera for my trip to Hong Kong and life in general. I've been coveting DSLR movies and imagining myself with one of these since I was a sophomore in high school, and you know, I'm a film student and all, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and shell out my whole month's salary for one of these bad boys. I figure the learning curve will be at least a week. Lucky for you, it also means I will have super beautiful high quality pictures to keep you coming back to my blog again and again! 

3. Entertaining Friends During the Holiday Season
I have a month of winter break in which several of my friends from elsewhere will be coming to visit me in my hometown of Huntington Beach. I'll have to find several interesting activities for us to do. The only ones I can think of right now and wearing sweaters and drinking hot chocolate and going ice skating indoors and watching Elf thirty thousand times. 

4. Buying Christmas Gifts
Actually probably making them, because I spent all my money on that fancy camera. I hope people like mixed CDs and hats that I hot glued together out of felt.

5. Figuring Travel Junk Out
Get a credit card and all those other weird things you need when you travel internationally. Some kind of adapter for my laptop charger or something? I don't even know!


I have so much to do but I'm already so antsy! This Saturday is my Pre-Departure Orientation where I meet the other students who are going on my program with me and we talk about all the stuff we're supposed to know before we go. I hope I make some friends! Wish me luck!

An Introduction

Hello there! I'm not sure exactly what the protocol is for writing a blog introduction, so I guess I'm just going to just go with my gut.

My name is Lauren and this is a blog! That seems like a good start.

I am currently a film production student in my third year at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Above is a picture of me dressed as a chicken from one of my films. I personally feel that it's a pretty accurate representation of me as a person.

On January 13th, 2013, I am leaving to study abroad at Hong Kong University. I'll be abroad for five months. Five crazy, awkward, lost in translation, possibly wonderful but most definitely interesting months. So I figured a blog would be the best way to share my experiences with my friends and family and random people who are thinking about going to Hong Kong (I include the latter category because I have been a random person stalking total stranger's HK blogs for about a year now and I hope my experiences can help some future traveler find her way around the HK experience too!).

So anyways, that's that! Here's to adventuring, exploring, and eating a lot of weird food that hopefully includes noodles.

Because, you know. I really love noodles.